Old Issues Get A New Twist In Elections

Northwest suburban voters face what amounts to a wide-ranging public opinion poll Tuesday, as they will be asked their views on such hot-button issues as taxes, gambling and government spending.

Those issues will appear in various referendums, from gambling questions in Carpentersville and Des Plaines, to school, park or library financing issues in Buffalo Grove, Crystal Lake, Huntley and Mt. Prospect, to a measure to abolish township government in McHenry County.

Meanwhile, voters will select candidates in several heated congressional and state legislative races.

In the 8th Congressional District, which covers the northwest suburbs of Cook County and the western half of Lake County, Philip Crane, a Wauconda Republican, is running for re-election againt Robert Walberg, a Palatine Democrat.

For Crane, a victory would mean his 14th term in Congress. Walberg, a stock-market analyst, has not run for office before. His campaign has been modestly funded, but spirited.

Not so modestly funded have been the campaigns of state Sen. Grace Mary Stern, (D-Highland Park), and her opponent, Republican challenger Kathleen Parker of Northbrook. Between them the two candidates for the 29th Senate District seat have spent more than $1 million.

In the 60th House District, which includes southeastern Lake County and portions of far northern Cook County, Rep. Lauren Beth Gash, a Democrat, is running for re-election against fellow Deerfield resident Edna Schade, a Republican. The GOP has targeted this race, a particularly nasty one, as critical to its hopes of winning a Republican majority in the House for the first time in 11 years.

In Carpentersville, a referendum will ask residents whether they want the right to vote on any introduction or expansion of gambling there. In the past two years, such measures have passed easily in other parts of Illinois, usually by 80 percent or more.

The vote in Des Plaines should be more hotly contested. The question there is whether voters want casino gambling-not just the right to vote on it. Those ballot questions have been tougher to call in recent years.

Arlington Heights had a gambling referendum like the one in Carpentersville, but a Cook County Circuit Court judge threw it off the ballot after determining the question's wording was confusing. An appeals court upheld that ruling Monday, the day before the election.

A binding vote on whether to abolish township government in McHenry County has attracted interest not only locally, but in other parts of the state that might consider following suit. Proponents say it could save more than $10 million. Opponents say it would simply remove services from township control and make government officials less accessible.

Robert Miller, Algonquin Township highway commissioner and a leading organizer of the pro-township forces, said Monday that township supporters "are real excited and aggressive and will turn out."

Robert Anderson, president of Concerned Taxpayers for Integrity in Government and the organizer of the anti-township drive, said the outcome "will be very close, but I'm not going to make any predictions."

McHenry County voters will also punch their ballots for two contentious county offices. William Mullen, a Republican appointed sheriff in December to replace the retired George Hendle, is running for his first four-year term against Democrat Arlie "Lee" Page, a former suburban police official who has criticized Mullen's work ethic.

The campaign took a surprising twist Sunday night when Mullen was admitted to the hospital after experiencing chest pains. A spokesman at Northern Illinois Medical Center in McHenry said Monday that Mullen did not have a heart attack, but would be kept under observation for a few days.

Also in McHenry County, incumbent Treasurer William Ward, a Republican, is running against Democrat Randy Patterson, a financial consultant and controller.

Ward came under attack in June for holding stock in two banks where county money is deposited. But since a county grand jury did not indict Ward after reviewing the case, Patterson acknowledged that he has had difficulty using the issue in his campaign.

The Cook County clerk's office has projected voter turnout in the county's suburbs at between 50 and 54 percent, about the same as the last two gubernatorial election years. In McHenry County, Clerk Katherine Schultz predicted a turnout of 56 to 60 percent, the highest in recent years. She believes more voters will go to the polls because of the township issue.

"The people all want to know if the township question is on the ballot they are given," she said, "but they aren't saying which way they will vote."